Brothers in Arms
by xXMiss.BrightSideXx
Summary: Theseus and Newt may have more in common than either of them ever thought they would.


When Newt arrives back in England, he's greeted with more people than he knows that to do with. Before he can take his last step off the gang plank and onto dry land, he's ambushed with so many reporters, it makes his head spin.

"Mr. Scamander! Tell us about your trip to New York!"

"Tell us how you fought Grindelwald and won!"

"What was it like going wand to wand with the man himself?"

"Was it a difficult duel?"

"How were _you_ able to finally bring down the mad man?"

Newt wants to hate the implications they make about what happened. Did they know that an innocent boy had given up his life? Did they know the subtle manipulations that Grindelwald had been fostering in MACUSA for who knows how long? He wants to demand silence, tell them to shut up and leave him alone, but he's always been the quiet brother, the Hufflepuff who never likes to ruffle any feathers.

"Oi, leave him alone! Get away from him." The familiar voice of his older brother is like a lifeline that he desperately wants to grab on to. "Come on, Newt, let's get out of here."

When Theseus apparates them away, Newt believes that he'll open his eyes to the family's estate, his mother and father bearing down on him. Instead, he's surprised to find that he's in his own flat, with the familiar bookshelves that line the walls, and the large windows overlooking Diagon Alley. He looks at his brother surprised.

"I thought it might be better to let you settle back here first," he explains.

Newt nods, awkwardly. "Thank you."

The room is silent, but the magizoologist can't figure out how to talk to his elder brother. Instead, he takes note of the trinkets and books that have been untouched for nearly nine months but look as pristine as the day he left. Despite his extensive traveling, Newt likes to keep his apartment still moderately homey. He uses it as a place to store all the things he wants to save, without the potential to be broken or ransacked as might happen in his case.

"I'll let you get settled then. Maybe we can go to dinner later, at the Leaky Cauldron and I can find out what you've been up to and tell you about how much Mother worries over you," Theseus offers.

"Mother's letters are worried filled enough," he responds, dryly. "But yes, dinner would be nice."

His brother claps him firmly on the back as he walks to the door. "Excellent. I'll be back in a couple hours, so you can finish getting your creatures all settled all right."

The flat is mercifully silent and empty and Newt takes a second to just breathe. Too much has changed without his awareness if he is suddenly greeted like a celebrity at the docks. Shaking his head, he counts backwards from ten and at zero, his feet unstick from the floor so he can set his case down on the table he uses solely for the purpose of housing it.

Climbing back down is like coming home at the end of the day. He makes the rounds, checking up on all of the creatures in his care, feeding and coddling them as he is wont to do. Pickett chirps from his shoulder, still unwilling to join his tree again, but the wizard can hardly find it in him to care that much anymore.

Once he's sure that all of his beasts are comfortable and his chores are all done, Newt sits at the desk in his case, and pulls out a piece of parchment and a quill. Pickett climbs down his arm to grab onto the end of the quill and Newt shushes him.

"Pickett, how am I supposed to write to Tina if you keep messing with the quill?"

The Bowtruckle squawks at him. "Yes I know that you want to be included in it. I already said you would be."

Satisfied, the little green creature allows Newt to dip his quill in the ink and write.

 _Dear Tina,_

 _I've arrived safely in London. It would appear that news of our adventures in the past week have preceded my arrival and I was greeted with a great crowd of reporters. Hopefully this isn't a new trend as it will be quite difficult to work on my novel if I keep getting interrupted. Luckily my older brother, Theseus, was there to pull me away._

 _I will probably stay in London for a while, which will more than likely involve at least a couple of visits with my parents. Please wish me luck as my mother is very similar to a Hippogriff: proud, motherly to those she cares about, and willing to reprimand any perceived lack of response. And, unfortunately for me, I have not been the best at responding to her letters._

 _Pickett would like to say hello as well. He is currently watching me write this, and wants to make sure I know to include him. He likes to think of himself as very self-important which I no doubt have done a poor job at correcting._

 _I hope that you are also doing well as a newly instated Auror. Please send my well-wishes to your sister, Queenie, as well._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Newt Scamander_

He reads over the letter once, pointing out where he had written about Pickett when the Bowtruckle squeaks at him. Satisfied for the most part, he climbs up to his bedroom to find an owl that would send the letter trans-Atlantic once he comes back from dinner with Theseus.

Just as he comes up, he hears a knocking from the front door, and goes to open it. His brother stands tall, and motions out to the hallway.

"Dinner?"

"Of course." Newt locks his door and follows Theseus down the stairs, and a short walk over to the Leaky Cauldron. His case swings at his side as he avoids the people who may hit it.

Once they arrive however, a group similar to the one from earlier come and mob Newt. Reporters are shoving quills at his face and the flash from the cameras is making him go blind.

"How did you manage to overpower Grindelwald, Mr. Scamander?"

"Mr. Scamander, is it true that you fought Grindelwald in plain sight of Muggles?"

"Is that your famous case with all the monsters?"

"Mr. Scamander, tell me how you fought past the entire MACUSA Auror department to escape execution!"

"Mr. Scamander!"

A heavy hand pushes a bewildered Newt away from the crowd. "I think we'll just take these to go, huh Newt?" Theseus maintains a brisk pace that his brother struggles to keep up with, but soon they are safely back in Newt's apartment, fish and chips in hand.

The younger man is still reeling as his brother steers him over to a chair at the kitchen table. While Theseus goes to grab two glasses of water, Newt sets down his case and studies his older brother. They've never really looked alike. Newt takes after his father's appearance, with the reddish hair and hazel eyes, while Theseus looks like their mother, hair and eyes a dark brown. However, they both share the outrageous freckles that they get from their father.

Beyond noting that his brother is in desperate need of a haircut, and that their mother will probably force him to shave when they next go to visit, Newt notices that Theseus looks exhausted. He's got bags under his eyes that are puffy and painful in ways that show he probably hasn't slept right in a while. He's thinner, probably more so than he should be and he steps lighter, like he's waiting for something to jump out at him at every turn.

Despite his observations, Newt says nothing once they're both seated and digging into their dinner. The silence is mostly comfortable considering it's been a very long time since it was just the two Scamander boys at the table. Finally though, they finish and Theseus settles back against the chair.

"So, Newt," he begins and Newt prepares himself for an interrogation. "How are you?"

It's a surprising question, since neither brother ever really stops to ask, but the younger man finds himself stumbling out an answer, eyes focusing steadily on the empty plate before him.

"I'm ok. New York was…a lot more interesting than I originally gave it credit for, though most of it was, admittedly, my fault."

His brother chuckles, lightly and Newt risks a look upwards. For once, he doesn't seem upset by the words, but bemused, like he knows that his little brother will always cause problems and at least this one is already fixed.

"Your creatures?"

The younger one winces a little. "Just a smidge."

"Ho, ho, the perfect British understatement," Theseus laughs. "You always had it down to a science. Please, tell me about it."

So, Newt does. He tells about how his Niffler escaped, how he caught it only for his case to be switched with Jacob's and then he got taken in to MACUSA. He tells about meeting Tina and Queenie and his adventures finding all of his escaped beasts. For once, Theseus appears to be genuinely interested in the tales he's telling. It's a nice feeling, Newt decides.

"And what about this execution that I heard about? It would appear that you were close to death plenty of times in the last week, little brother."

The magizoologist looks away, more uncomfortable with this story. "Graves, - ah, Grindelwald had been the one to ransack my case when Tina took me in again after Jacob and I retrieved my Erumpent. After a short interrogation, we were both sentenced to be executed and I didn't allow that to happen."

Theseus nods but doesn't press for more information. Then, he takes a deep breath to prepare himself for his next question. Newt, meanwhile, braces himself for what he knows is coming.

"And Grindelwald? Why would you throw yourself into danger like that?"

It's difficult to put into words. He's never been very good at speaking, never much liked that he can't always express himself the same way he can on paper or with his creatures.

"There…there was an obscurial in the city, which I only found out about at the same time at Tina taking us in," he begins, fingers twisting a bit nervously. "I didn't find him until it was too late. Grindelwald had been manipulating him for far too long before I got there. I told Tina that I would protect him."

His eyes well up, and he tries to blink back tears. In front of the Goldstein sisters and Jacob, tears weren't a sign of weakness, but in the Scamander household, he learned better than that.

"I wasn't able…I wasn't able to save him in the end."

He looks up just in time to see Theseus walk over to crouch down next to him and lay a hand on his back. There's too many tears now to blink away, and he uses the back of his hand wipe at them.

"What was his name?" Theseus's voice is soft, understanding in a way that Newt never thought he would hear.

"Credence." The two syllables are hard to get out and his voice cracks half way through. And worst yet, it starts the floodgates. He can't hold back all the pain of losing someone else, of not being able to protect someone he swore to protect. It was like with Nadia in Sudan all over again.

Instead of scoffing at him as Newt expected, his brother wraps an arm around him and pulls him close. They don't speak as his sobs eventually come to an end. Embarrassed, Newt tries to break free, but Theseus holds him tight and eventually, he stops and just lets himself be comforted.

"In the war, I saw a lot of good people die. Friends, co-workers - people I saw every day. I marched out into battle with them only to be the only one to walk away."

Newt's the one with his arm around his brother now. There's a pain in his voice that is clear even to one as people-challenged as Newt is. It hints at issues that have been buried for far too long, only just being allowed to come to the surface. He stays silent, waiting to hear what else his brother had to say.

"I'm the only one left. I guess that's why I get to be hero," scoffs Theseus. "No one else is alive to take it."

Both brothers are teary, arms wrapped around each other. Newt thinks of Credence, of the people who he saw die from the war, of Grindelwald who is willing to sacrifice so many just so his ideas can take over the world. He doesn't understand the way people fight like this when all it does is cause scars and deaths.

"I've listened to so many people tell me that I'm such a hero for being so involved with the war. As if I am somehow better for fighting than the people like you, who were so against the fighting and still went out to defend their country."

Newt nods. "I've been told to be more like you, more prone to leaping into battle. And I tell them again and again that fighting resolves exactly nothing."

"And you'd be the only sane one out of us all."

They stay that way for a while, arms around each other, lost in their own memories. Eventually, Theseus gets up off the floor, and jokes that he's getting too old to be doing that anymore. Newt gives a watery laugh and walks his brother to the front door.

Theseus stops just as he's exited to look at his younger brother. "You will come with me to visit Mother and Father, won't you?"

"Yes. I plan on visiting."

"And tell me about your Tina one day too, yeah?" he grins, as Newt flushes a bright red.

"There's nothing to tell beyond her being a friend."

"Uh huh. We'll see." Theseus waves as he starts walking away. "I'm glad you're back in London, Newt."

Newt waves back. "I am too, Theseus."

That night, Newt goes to bed feeling much lighter than he had on the boat over. Even his creatures recognize that an important part of him has been revived. He coddles them once more before he falls into a dreamless sleep. It's good to be home.


End file.
